19 November 2024

Crane carries car-size rock bags to help stabilise landslips near Sea Cliff Bridge

| Jen White
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crane over Sea Cliff Bridge

A huge crane lifts bags of rock which will be placed near the base of Sea Cliff Bridge to help stabilise two landslip areas. Photo: Transport for NSW.

Bags of rock weighing the equivalent of a small car will be lifted into place to repair landslips at the northern end of Sea Cliff Bridge.

Transport for NSW has brought in a long-reach crane to lift and place about 60 tonnes of rock to repair two landslip sites caused by severe weather in February last year.

Traffic on the bridge will be impacted during the work, which started last week and is expected to finish in early December, weather permitting.

READ ALSO Footbridge connecting TAFE, uni to close for a month as part of Mt Ousley Interchange work

Transport for NSW Senior Project Manager Richard Heffernan said specialist contractors carrying out the repair work would use the long-reach crane on Wednesday (20 November) to lift bags filled with new rock to support a section of the suspended road and footpath.

“The use of this long-reach crane is necessary to lift these heavy-duty, weather-resistant bags that each weigh around one tonne – the equivalent of a small car,” he said.

“The crane will lift the bags from the road, over the footpath and down to where they are needed for the repairs.”

Workers and other machinery, including a seven-tonne excavator, will operate on the rocky ground below the road to stabilise the landslip areas and prevent further erosion.

READ ALSO First section of Lawrence Hargrave Drive repairs complete

The $530,000 repair work, funded by the State and Federal governments, will be carried out from Monday to Friday, between 7 am and 5 pm.

During work hours, the road will be limited to a single lane under stop/slow traffic control to ensure the safety of motorists and workers.

Motorists should expect short delays of up to five minutes.

Pedestrians and cyclists will continue to have access along the Sea Cliff Bridge shared path throughout the work.

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